The filling process generally includes providing a supply of containers along a conveyer, filling the containers at a filling position, and closing the containers at a closing and capping position. This process may produce by separate and distinct filling and capping machines or may include a single or mono-block machine which conveys, fills and caps. Depending upon the structure, the conveying system may be a linear conveyor or may be a combination of a linear conveyor with a circular conveyor or turret. In the turret system, the containers are positioned at the filling and capping stations along the turret.
The method of filling and transporting or conveying is generally the function of the type and size of the container as well as the fill product. For liquids in wide mouthed containers, spilling during transport is a problem which must be addressed. There are many various solutions in the prior art to address this problem and they generally include different acceleration, deceleration cycles as well as velocity as the containers move between the various stations. If the fill product is a foamy product, the fill sequence is different than a non-foamy product. Some products are filled bottom to top, others are filled from the top down. Thus, the vertical position of the filling nozzle must be continually adjusted for the type of product to be filled. Similarly, the vertical positions of the filling nozzle as well as the vertical position of the capper must be adjusted for various heights of containers. Since the prior art used mechanical drives for the filling and capping unit using cams and other linkages, a considerable amount of time was needed to readjust the machine for different types of fill product and containers.
The conveying system also includes cams, mechanical linkages, to determine the position of the containers on the conveyor. In the turret conveying system, industry has used a indexer which indexes twelve positions about the 360.degree. of rotation of the turret. Thus if more container pockets are to be included on the turret, the fill and capping position had to be adjusted with respect to the turret, or the diameter of the turret had to be increased to accommodate the positioning of the additional pockets. Again, this required mechanical modification of the machine for pocket locations whether it be the number of pockets or the size of the pockets. Thus, if the shape or diameter of the container changed, the turret itself or the location of the capping and filling devices had to be adjusted mechanically. Other stations may be provided along the path including a plug insertion device as well as a cap tightening device.